he term “heart failure” often elicits a fearfulresponse. It sounds disastrous, like a heartthat stops beating all of a sudden. But thatis called sudden cardiac arrest. Heart failure(HF) is the name given to a condition wherean abnormal heart muscle is unable to keep up with itsworkload of pumping blood, oxygen and nutrients to thebody. It is a chronic condition, but it can be managed and intoday’s world, managed well.

In our first two installments of this four-part series on HF
we discussed the two forms of this condition — Heart Failure
with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF, referred to as “
hef-ref”) and Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
(HFpEF, “hef-pef”). In this third installment we will discuss
hospitalization, which HF treatment may require.

It is safe to say that none of us wants to go into thehospital. However, when symptoms of HF worsen andcannot be managed at home, patients may need to behospitalized, sometimes repeatedly.Many times patients delay calling their physician aboutsymptoms for fear that they will end up in the hospital. Whilethe emotions of this are understandable, it is not an effectiveresponse because the symptoms can get much worse, whichcould require a longer hospital stay. (See “Self-CheckPlan” infographic to help you monitor your HF and takeappropriate action when needed.)“Hospitalization or re-hospitalization is somethingpatients really don’t want,” said Kathleen L. Grady, Ph.D.,R.N., M.S., administrative director of the Center forHeart Failure and professor, Departments of Surgery andMedicine, Feinberg School of Medicine at NorthwesternUniversity in Chicago. “It happens for a variety of reasons— the HF itself may be worsening or patients may developworsening symptoms from other conditions, like aninfection. It may be challenging to stick to what can oftenbe a complicated medical regimen, such as not takingTHE THIRD OF A FOUR-PART SERIES ON HEART FAILURE